In spite of several cases study existing that assess the profitability of farms participating in direct sales activities (Brown, 2002; Brown and Miller (2008), no analysis has verified whether the notion that farmers participating in short supply chains are profitable holds to the empirical test....

It is shown that a crime is a result of a rational decision made by an individual on the basis of costs-benefits analysis. The economic approach predicts that the rational agent gets involved in some criminal activity when the marginal return from this activity exceeds the marginal return...

This study presents three essays on the evolving competitive environment characterizing the modern retailing industry: (1) the impact of the scope of supermarket services on food prices and demand; (2) the impact of Wal-Mart on retail wages and workers; and (3) the expansion strategy of...

This study investigates the socio-historical relationships existing between the development of the agricultural structure and the process of technical development. Adopting a political economy posture, it is argued that the development of technical procedures in agriculture has been aimed...

This analysis uses an analytical frameworkgrounded in political economy perspectives of theglobalization of the agro-food sector combined with acase study approach focusing on the Marine StewardshipCouncil (MSC) to inform discussions regarding thecharacteristics of societal regulation in...

This paper provides an analytical panorama of agriculture in the European context to be employed as a background for reading the articles contained in this issue of Agriculture and Human Values. Brief summaries of their contents constitute the concluding part of the present contribution....

The article illustrates the major features of the development of Italian agriculture from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. It is argued that such development has been characterized by dualism. At the structural level dualism refers to the existence of a large number of small...